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Intergenerational Communication Across the Life Span

• By Angie Williams, Jon F. Nussbaum

• Price: $47.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 360
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 1st January 2001
• ISBN: 978-0-8058-2249-6

About the Book

Individuals of all ages interact with one another, and their interactions have significance throughout their lives. This distinctive volume acknowledges the importance of these interactions and provides a life-span developmental view of communication and aging, attempting to capture the many similarities and changes that occur in people's lives as they age. The authors move the study of intergenerational contact closer to the actual participants, examining what happens within intergenerational interactions and how people evaluate their intergenerational experiences. The volume concentrates on the micro-context of the intergenerational interaction and the cognitions, language, and relationship behaviors related to intergenerational communication across the life span.

The volume employs the perspective that the understanding of human behavior across the life span is enhanced by studying communicative behavior in intergenerational interaction. The authors integrate research from multiple disciplines concerned with intergenerational communication, which is framed by several unique theoretical perspectives drawn from the communication discipline. As a resource for the study of intergenerational communication across the life span, this monograph offers important insights to scholars, students, and all who are involved in intergenerational communication.

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction. Part I: Social Psychological and Developmental Foundations. Theoretical Foundations for the Study of Intergenerational Communication. Intergenerational Contexts and Contact. Social Cognitive Contributions: Intergenerational Attitudes and Stereotypes. Language, Cognition, and Age. Intergenerational Language Strategies: Underaccommodation. Intergenerational Language Strategies: Overaccommodation. Generational Identity and Age Identity. Part II: Intergenerational Relationship Communication. Adult Child-Elderly Parent Relationship. The Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship. Sandwiched Communication. Intergenerational Relationships Beyond the Family. Part III: Macrosocietal Perspectives. Intergenerational Conflict. Societal, Political, Public Policy Issues, and Intergenerational Communication. Cultural Perspectives on Intergenerational Communication. Epilogue.